Category Archives: Gift ideas

Have you remembered it’s Mothers Day (UK) on Sunday 6th of March? Instead of giving your Mother an another bunch of over-priced flowers and large box of confectionery this year, why not completely surprise her by giving her a completely unique and extremely personal gift that will in turn get you major brownie points and prime place in her good books.

So here’s what you can do. But remember its a going to be a surprise so don’t tell anyone about it who can’t keep a secret ( in my family my Dad is the absolute worst!).

Step 1 – Like the younger incantation of yourself, go exploring through photo albums, shoe-boxes of random photos, and other nooks and crannies for the best image of your Mother you can find. Just pick a really good photo that means alot to her, i.e. your parents wedding day, holding you as a baby, or a great picture of your Mother as a child.

Step 2– Send it to me here at ReClick Photo. In order to help you with your gift giving endeavours you must decide on what you wish to be done with your selected image. If your image has seen better days then I could restore it for you. If your image in in black and white, I could colour it for you. If you would like your mother to look her very best I can even retouch the image for you. What ever option you would like I am more than happy to help. For all methods of getting your image to me here at ReClick Photo, please visit my website at http://www.reclickphoto.co.uk. To ensure your image arrives to me quickly and safely please use my recommended method of scanning your image and send it via email to me at info@reclickphoto.co.uk. for a free no-obligation quote.

Step 3– Once satisfied with the work completed and I have received payment, I will send your new image to you via email, where it is yours to do with as you wish! You could simply print of the image from your home printer or you could use one of the many companies out there to print it onto a wide range of things from a mug, to cushion. The choice is completely up to you!

Would you like to see an example of what I can do? I will show you as long as you keep it a secret, it’s for my Mother for Mothers day! Let’s take a look at the original image:

Image before restoration and recolouring.

If I was to tell you how old this image, there is a slight chance that my Mother would hear about it, so for the sake of diplomacy I will describe it as being a few years old. As you can see, due to not being stored correctly it has suffered a little damage. So the first task is to rectify it.

After a little care and attention its time to bring this sepia image to life. In recolouring this image there is a few key areas that I believe need the most attention in order to successfully recolour an image.

Skin – The most important area which need a lot of attention. Thinking that your skin is all one colour is wrong. Take a look at your own face in the mirror closely and you will see lots of variation in tone and texture. To replicate it digitally can be a little difficult but, when done correctly, it really makes your image. Just remember when you are ill you can usually tell by the colour of your skin, so getting the right colour is extremely important. My method of successful skin recolouring is to use a colour photo as a reference. It doesn’t have to be a photograph of the person you are retouching, it just has to be of someone with similar colouring. Like all good things, it take time and patience to complete.

Eyes – Some would say that the eyes are the gateway to the soul, for me they are one of the most important areas of a persons face. Like the skin the best way to approach recolouring the eyes is to use a reference photo. Do not take anything for granted, because what you think is not always what is there. For example what we describe as ‘the whites of the eyes’ are not pure brilliant white. Why not take a little time to examine your own eyes and try and pick out all the different colours you see.

Hair – Hair comes in all shapes, colours and textures, so to recolour someone’s hair can be tricky. Yes you have guessed it, use a reference photo! To successfully recolour hair, you have to retain its texture and shine. Just think of those shampoo commercials we see on TV!

Would you like to see the finished result?

Image after restoration and recolouring.

So what do you think? Do you think my Mother will like it? As you can see above, once you successfully recolour the skin, eyes, and hair, then the hardest part is done. Recolouring the rest of the image is a much easier task as the most important areas are done.

So how do I select the colours to use in the rest of the recolouring work? Well there is a few ways in approaching this. Firstly you can use ask those who were in the photo at the time. But failing that you can either use their favourite colours, or the last resort use artistic licence. Here at ReClick Photo I will only recolour your image to your own specifications, but don’t worry if you have no idea what to do then is just tell me to use my initiative. But please don’t worry, if you are not satisfied I will change anything you don’t like and no payment is required until you are completely happy with the finished result.

Now with the project complete lets take a look at before and after image comparison.

Before and after image comparison.

I hope this blog post has given you food for thought for your Mother’s Day gift this year. But if you are reading this from outside the UK then why not give your mother a gift to let her know how much she means to you – you don’t need to have a special day to do that. So what ever your imaging needs are please let me help! All you have to do is send me an email to info@reclickphoto.co.uk with your chosen image and let me see what I can do for you.